We arrived with great anticipation,having looked forward to this stay for some time.Podere Terreno came HIGHLY recommended in various media.

Podere Terreno,in our actual experience (group of 12 friends),while a beautiful and fascinating venue,lacked warmth,welcome and hospitality on the part of the hosts.

We found Roberto and Marie-Sylvie to be perhaps past their "best-by" date as hosts.Perhaps they've had enough of the stress of dealing with the public .

Food on first night,prepared by Roberto, was excellent,then slowly deteriorated,as the hosts clearly became less interested in,or positive toward, our party.

Breakfast on our fourth (last) day consisted mainly of left-over dessert from the first dinner ; the supply of yogurts and fresh breads was apparently exhausted . The "hosts" were conspicuous in their absence (Francisco found time to drop in long enough to settle the bill)

Roberto's monologues (and such they were) at dinner began as interesting and informative,but it soon became clear that questions or any interruptions were unwelcome,and anyone in our group attempting to enter the conversation and share experiences in the area were met with disinterest from the host.

Sylvie was simply uninterested in any part of the process.

Francisco was somewhat less than accommodating

Requests were met with either procrastination or even anger ; disbelief that anyone could display the effrontery to make such a request !

Our next two weeks in 4 other venues in Tuscany were all wonderful,welcoming,and as a bonus,three of them were far less expensive !

All-in-all ,we feel that what we anticipated as being the highlight of our trip (ie Podere terreno),turned out to be a big disappointment to us all !

I am writing this 2 years after the fact,having just come across this site. I note,with interest, similar reactions from other guests.

After reading all the reviews we were disappointed by the lack of hospitality. We were never greeted when we arrived at the house nor were we ever asked how our day was or what we were thinking about doing the next day. It seemed like they really did not care. Whenever we asked Francisco for suggestions on places to see he made us feel like we were inconveniencing him, and always said he’d tell us at a later time. The first day he said he would tell us in the morning but when we woke up in the morning he was gone running errands. The next evening when we actually got him to tell us a name of a town or winery he did so very quickly. If we asked him to spell the name he was very reluctant to do so and would say oh it’s really easy to find and leave. Dinners were fun, and the multiethnic conversations were the highlight of our stay. There is no air conditioning. We asked for a fan as we noticed that some rooms had one. They first said that they did not have one, when we said we noticed them in other rooms they took one from another room to give to us. The shower is a small wooden platform in the corner of the bathroom which shares a toilet and sink. Shower curtain covers both shower and toilet so only one person can use the bathroom at a time. They did not give any wine tours to any of their guests so do not expect one when you arrive. The first night we had 2 bats that flew in our room. Francisco got them out but then they returned in the middle of the night. We heard complaints from the other guests about some of the same problems. We guess this place is not what it used to be like several years ago. We would not stay at this place nor recommend it to any of our friends. This place may be better for one night pit stops on your way to another location.

Roberto and Marie Sylvie offer delightfully comfortable and rustic accommodations in a gorgeous rural setting, yet not too far from the lovely town of Radda in Chianti. Roberto is very knowledgeable about the area and is happy to share information over his many excellent dinners which include fresh local produce and his delicious homemade wine. They, and their two dogs are gracious hosts and Roberto's cooking is phenomenal. I would highly recommend this experience.

Melody Urso
March 8-11, 2007

we were recomended by someone to this home, rustic home, clean, separtae bedroom with a bath, we stayed 3 nights, so we had 3 typical breakfasts cheese buns spreads meats juice coffe and tea. dinner was kind of simple but very good... the wine was provided and excellent. you sit at breakfast and dinner with all the guests, when we were there it was half and half who could speak english. when we tried our broken french with the gusest they tried their broken english back and it was very interesting and fun. this is a place to eat the 2 meals and sleep and then have a easy trip to san giminiano, the medeterian?? piza, or the other little towns around. I cannot eat wheat (Celiac) and they bought me special rice crackers for breakfast and made rissitto for everone one night and got rice pasta just for me. very accomidating. the walk up the hill to a small village is worth it but remember your route and it is 40-50 minutes the beer or wine when you get there will taste great.